﻿BIRDS. 
  

  

  61 
  

  

  from 
  the 
  small 
  farmers 
  : 
  they 
  all 
  left 
  during 
  the 
  winter 
  Now 
  the 
  

   birds 
  are 
  extinct 
  there. 
  

  

  Mr. 
  Chisholm, 
  head 
  keeper 
  at 
  Foyers, 
  writes 
  us 
  that 
  about 
  

   forty 
  years 
  ago 
  the 
  Kite 
  bred 
  in 
  that 
  neighbourhood, 
  but 
  none 
  

   have 
  been 
  seen 
  since 
  those 
  mentioned 
  as 
  killed 
  at 
  Glen 
  Urquhart 
  

   in 
  1865. 
  He 
  called 
  them 
  in 
  Gaelic 
  1 
  Clamhan 
  Goulach'(m 
  lit. 
  

   1894). 
  

  

  Mr. 
  G. 
  Malcolm 
  writes 
  us 
  that 
  he 
  knows 
  a 
  man 
  who 
  remembers 
  

   when 
  the 
  Salmon-tailed 
  Gled 
  was 
  quite 
  a 
  common 
  sight 
  in 
  Glen- 
  

   garry. 
  Mr. 
  Malcolm 
  also 
  adds 
  : 
  — 
  ' 
  I 
  have 
  myself 
  been 
  fortunate 
  

   enough 
  to 
  see 
  a 
  solitary 
  specimen 
  at 
  Tomacarry, 
  at 
  the 
  head 
  of 
  

   Loch 
  Garry. 
  I 
  happened 
  to 
  get 
  quite 
  close 
  to 
  it 
  (about 
  fifteen 
  

   yards), 
  so 
  there 
  was 
  no 
  doubt 
  about 
  it. 
  This 
  was 
  in 
  August 
  

   last 
  year' 
  (1891). 
  

  

  In 
  some 
  notes 
  kindly 
  lent 
  us 
  by 
  Mr. 
  Muirhead, 
  he 
  writes 
  that 
  

   in 
  July 
  1866 
  Arthur 
  Laller 
  brought 
  him 
  one 
  egg 
  that 
  he 
  said 
  

   was 
  that 
  of 
  a 
  Kite, 
  which 
  he 
  had 
  got 
  at 
  Guisachan. 
  

  

  Mr. 
  T. 
  Macpherson-Grant, 
  in 
  a 
  letter 
  to 
  Dr. 
  Gordon, 
  remarks 
  

   that 
  the 
  Kite 
  ' 
  might 
  almost 
  be 
  called 
  common 
  at 
  Ballindalloch 
  

   about 
  the 
  year 
  1844, 
  inasmuch 
  as 
  some 
  are 
  killed 
  and 
  many 
  more 
  

   seen 
  every 
  year. 
  They 
  are 
  most 
  frequent 
  in 
  autumn 
  and 
  the 
  

   winter 
  months, 
  probably 
  at 
  these 
  seasons 
  coming 
  down 
  from 
  the 
  

   upper 
  districts 
  in 
  quest 
  of 
  food. 
  I 
  have 
  often 
  seen 
  four, 
  or 
  

   even 
  five, 
  together, 
  circling 
  round 
  in 
  the 
  very 
  graceful 
  curves 
  so 
  

   characteristic 
  of 
  the 
  flight 
  of 
  the 
  species. 
  They 
  breed 
  occasionally 
  

   with 
  us.' 
  

  

  Dr. 
  Gordon 
  (vide 
  Zoologist, 
  1847) 
  says 
  that 
  — 
  'The 
  Kite 
  was 
  

   sparingly 
  distributed 
  over 
  the 
  more 
  wooded 
  parts 
  of 
  the 
  country. 
  

   A 
  beautiful 
  specimen, 
  noticed 
  by 
  Professor 
  M'Gillivray 
  in 
  his 
  work 
  

   on 
  the 
  Rapacious 
  Birds 
  of 
  Great 
  Britain, 
  was 
  killed 
  in 
  the 
  wood 
  

   near 
  Cawdor 
  Castle, 
  where 
  it 
  had 
  its 
  nest 
  in 
  1832. 
  Another 
  

   was 
  killed 
  by 
  Mr. 
  Foljambe's 
  gamekeeper, 
  on 
  the 
  hill 
  near 
  Kothes, 
  

   in 
  1838.' 
  

  

  Writing 
  about 
  1850, 
  St. 
  John 
  remarks 
  that, 
  not 
  many 
  years 
  

   since, 
  the 
  Kite 
  was 
  so 
  common 
  (in 
  Morayshire) 
  as 
  to 
  be 
  quite 
  a 
  

   scourge 
  to 
  the 
  henwife, 
  on 
  account 
  of 
  its 
  depredations 
  among 
  the 
  

   chickens, 
  but 
  that 
  now 
  it 
  is 
  very 
  rare, 
  from 
  being 
  so 
  easily 
  trapped. 
  

   One 
  he 
  had 
  tamed 
  lived 
  amicably 
  with 
  the 
  poultry, 
  which 
  latter 
  

   took 
  little 
  notice 
  of 
  it. 
  St. 
  John 
  remarks 
  that 
  his 
  tame 
  Kite 
  was 
  

  

  